Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

E-18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, January 4, 1947 CLEANING THE AIR (Continued from Page E-8) the necessity for planning and preparing every part of the cleaning program, from instructing the cleaning staff minutely, nor from checking up on their work with the most scrupulous care. Housecleaning is altogether too important. It is the most important single job in the theatre. Air soil can be felt — it makes the air muggy and oppressive. In extreme cases it can be smelled. Surface soil can be seen; and is visible evidence that the theatre is not properly kept. Considering the average housewife who is careful about the cleanliness of her own home, what attraction can a manager possibly book that will induce her to take her children into a dirty or a smelly theatre? One where she thinks they might catch disease? Or to go herself to a theatre from which she thinks or imagines she may carry disease home to her kids? Has any picture ever been made that can overcome that objection? So that except for certain types of audiences, cleanliness is even more important than the picture! A given audience in certain locations may be of the type that is willing to compromise with cleanliness. But if the theatre does, it is limiting itself to that type of patron. It is keeping all others away; and moreover acquiring an undesirable reputation that is like to be incurable, to cling to the edifice as long as the building stands. Housecleaning must therefore be thorough, removing not only every visible A GREAT PAIR TO DRAW TO -FOR A FULL HOUSE! ^TOU have to see them to appreciate their modern design — their rugged construction — their beautiful finish . . . You have to see them in action — to realize their rock-steady, flicker-free screening — the high-fidelity of their perfectly synchronized sound — from the softest whisper to the warmest tone, the weirdest shriek! No flutter . . . No hum ... No WOW! 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Porters and cleaning staffs left to their own devices can't be expected to do that kind of cleaning. This is stressed by the expert before referred to, who repeatedly insists to his trainees that in spite of any good luck the theatre may have in finding exceptional cleaning personnel, in a job so critical "if they had any brains they wouldn't be pushing brooms" remains the only safe and sure rule. Planning the Work Careful planning of housecleaning involves five clearly distinct factors. 1. Dividing the work into types. Cleaning carpets and cleaning tiles are obviously entirely different types of work. A given surface or piece of furniture may need a light going-over once a day and a thorough cleaning once a week — again, these are two different types of cleaning; and the tools, detergents and methods are likely to be entirely different. 2. Selecting the cleaning tools for each type of work. If left to themselves, there are porters who would use a partly-soiled rag, suited only to wiping out washbowls, for cleaning the projection screen! Rags, brushes, brooms, mops, vacuum cleaners, all need to be selected for each type of work. This is clearly a function of management. 3. Selecting the cleaning compounds for each type of work. Not only can the cleaning compound that is ideal for one surface prove ruinous to another, but the cost of detergents comes into consideration; and, further, must be balanced against the cost of the porter's time. Choosing a suitable compound for each type of cleaning work is again a function of management. 4. Dividing the work into jobs. Unless the theatre is so small that one person does all the cleaning, and does it on salary and can be left to take his own time about it, the work should be allocated among members of the cleaning staff, and not left to their own discretion. It is common practice in the larger theatres, when any new work is to be undertaken, to assign several different people (each first carefully instructed in how to do it) on successive nights, timing how long each one takes and averaging their times. Thus management can come to a fair and just approximation of how much time should be allowed. Management needs to know this with respect to every detail of cleaning the theatre. All cleaning work is then broken up into jobs, which are assigned to the different cleaners. In well-run theatres the allocation is such that they cannot waste time, but they are not so hurried that they can't be thorough. 5. Instructing the Help. Where cleaning work is thoroughly planned, every janitorial employe is carefully and specifically instructed not only in what to do but in exactly how to do it. They are not abandoned to their own notions. The vacuum cleaner salesman is not told to "tell the porter how to work it." The porter is not given a package of cleaning compound and told to "do what the label says." A delegated member of the managerial staff listens to the salesman and reads the label; then not only tells